NORWALK -- Since his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Norwalk resident Michael K. Geake has stepped up his visits to her in Barre, Vt., to once a week, typically leaving Thursday and returning on Sunday or Monday.

Geake, a Norwalk councilman who grew up in Vermont, describes the four-and-a-half hour drive to his mother's home as exhausting but necessary.

"I had committed to my mother that she would live independently as long as she possibly could," said Geake, speaking from her home in Barre. "That's why we've been coming back and forth taking care of her."

Geake said his mother began having memory problems last May. Since then, he and his wife, Mary, have visited her on a regular basis. In December, they began making weekly trips to Vermont. In January, Barbara Geake was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's and the state of Vermont revoked her driver's license, Geake said.

While staying with his mother, Geake and his wife cook for her, help her take her medications and provide other assistance. About a month ago, Geake installed six security cameras and motion detectors at her home. From his home in Norwalk, or elsewhere, he can check on her well being.

"I can pull it up on my cellphone to see if she's okay," Geake said.

For its efforts, the Geake family of Norwalk and Vermont will be featured on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley as part of a report on long-distance caregiving for persons with Alzheimer's.

"We prepared it as a story about the challenges for long-distance caregivers," said Amy Birnbaum, a producer with CBS Evening News. "The Alzheimer's Association just released a report of stats about the disease and included a section on caregivers who live far from relatives."

As of Tuesday, CBS Evening News had not set an air date for the story, according to Birnbaum.

As part of the story, a CBS Evening News crews visited Geake and his mother in Barre on March 16. A news crew, along with CBS Evening News medical correspondent Dr. Jonathan LaPook, came to the Geake home in South Norwalk on March 18.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other intellectual abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

An annual report by the association, with a special section on caregiving, brought CBS Evening News and the Geake family together.

"This year's special report was on long-distance care giving and that's defined as more than one hour of travel time," said Christy Koval, director of communications for the Alzheimer's Association Connecticut Chapter. "(Michael) was ideal because he has come to the Alzheimer's Association for education, information and resources and so we reached out to him."

Koval said Geake attended an open house held January in Norwalk, where the Connecticut Chapter has a regional office.

More than 5 million Americans live with Alzheimer's and as many as 16 million will have the disease in 2050. The cost of caring for persons with Alzheimer's and other dementias is estimated at $203 billion in 2013, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

The Geakes are not alone in traveling long distances to care for a loved one.

Nearly 15 percent of Alzheimer's caregivers live an hour or more travel distance from their loved ones. Out-of-pocket caregiving costs are nearly twice as high for long-distance caregivers as for local caregivers, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

Soon, Geake will no longer be a long-distance caregiver.

In early April, Barbara Geake will leave Vermont and move in with her son and daughter-in-law in South Norwalk.

"I'm relieved that we're finally getting her to Norwalk, because it's been exhausting coming up here every week and trying to make a living," Geake said. "It's exhausting but I was managing."

And by continuing to care for his mother, Geake also will be continuing a family and a Vermont tradition.

"She's a very independent Vermonter and was always able to take care of herself," Geake said. "We (Vermonters) do for ourselves and we take care of our own."

For more information or resources, contact the Alzheimer's Association 24-hour helpline at 1 (800) 272-3900.